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Sales people

PaulStat

PaulStat

PaulStat

Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2003
Posts
5,508
Location
Cotham, Bristol
I've only been in the "real" world for 2 years after uni, but the acronym for SALES (Slimy Arrogant Lying Egotistical Sods) seems ultimately true. Completly and utterly driven by money, and it seems to make them into all of these things.

It doesn't seem to matter what type of sales they are in either, the same can be applied.

I'm sure there's a few exceptions, but the vast majority (that i've come across anyway) seem to be nasty people.
 
You need to watch a program called "Dont get done, get Don!"

Don was a salesman for years and years and is now using his experience to help get deals for consumers.

Other than cold callers and telesales the only experience ove had with a bad salesman was when the g/f was buying her golf from a dealership in Birmingham.

Really push and arrogant, kept trying to push all these little options like a special coating for under the car to protect it from rust (the car was only 8 months old and came with this as standard). Not to mention the fact that we had the cash to pay with us but he kept trying to get her to have it on credit. He only offered her £400 px on her old golf.

In the end i told the g/f id buy her car for a grand, that made his face drop and then i told him that we wanted to deal with another salesman as i thought he was an obnoxious fool! New guy came over, got £800 knocked off the car, full tank of petrol and few other extras and paid cash!
 
I don't know any salesmen off hand but the one's I've met, and tried to make a sale, they usually always seem arrogant and pretty annoying.
I'm sure the person might be okay though, it's just their job, and they'll probably have on target earnings.
 
Pretty much agree, to be able to survive as a salesperson you have to be driven by money. a lot of them guys are on low salary and commision only. If they dont sell they dont pay the bills and eat.

I have no ability as a salesman. If i dont truley belive in the thing I had to sell I could never lie and hype it up enough.

My last experiance of the typical type that i hate was a Dolphin Bathrooms "design service" AKA hard salesman type. The crap these guys can spout made me want to physically harm him. HE got his cup of tea, I pushed him for the best quote he could give me plus the least commision he would accept and tolld him to leave.

Im sure if more of them would cut the BS, they would make more sales, And everyone would be happy. :D
 
PaulStat said:
I've only been in the "real" world for 2 years after uni, but the acronym for SALES (Slimy Arrogant Lying Egotistical Sods) seems ultimately true. Completly and utterly driven by money, and it seems to make them into all of these things.

It doesn't seem to matter what type of sales they are in either, the same can be applied.

I'm sure there's a few exceptions, but the vast majority (that i've come across anyway) seem to be nasty people.
Click to expand...

I know plenty of nice salespeople. The guys here are selling a product, are enthusiastic about it and that's what drives them. They get little money for doing so (it's a relatively new company) no bonus's, no company cars - so I think maybe you are concentrating on one particular stereotype rather than across the board.

BTW, my Mum's a sales rep, and you'd struggle to find a nicer lady, with exceptionally high moral standards. So don't tar them all with the same brush ;)
 
PaulStat said:
I've only been in the "real" world for 2 years after uni, but the acronym for SALES (Slimy Arrogant Lying Egotistical Sods) seems ultimately true. Completly and utterly driven by money, and it seems to make them into all of these things.

It doesn't seem to matter what type of sales they are in either, the same can be applied.

I'm sure there's a few exceptions, but the vast majority (that i've come across anyway) seem to be nasty people.
Click to expand...

you seem to.

I'm sure there are exceptions but for the vast majority?? :confused: That's tarring the vast majority with your slimy, arrogant, lying, egotistical sod brush.
 
kitten_caboodle said:
you seem to.

I'm sure there are exceptions but for the vast majority?? :confused: That's tarring the vast majority with your slimy, arrogant, lying, egotistical sod brush.
Click to expand...

I also said of the ones i've come across
 
I worked as a sales man for a while and I've got to say that I and everyone I worked with was pressured into always making that sale. If we didn't meet targets then basically it wasn't worth the time we spent in work becuase the basic pay was so bad.

Imagine if you go paid less but with bonus' for (for example) not submitting any code with a mistake in it. Wouldn't you spend the extra time checking? Just as sales people do whatever they can to earn their keep.
 
I work with two salesmen and they are fine, our company has a good reputation and a pretty good customer base mostly built up by these two men.

Yes their flat line is chump change and they have targets to meet each month, but they are nice & polite with every existing and potential customer they deal with.

They also destroy their target each month - so they must do something right

There are total ***** who are salesmen, I one bought a mobile in the link and really did feel like I wasn’t going to be able to get the phone out of the shop without the insurance they were offering. should have told him to stuff the lot, I returend the phone a week later as it was pure untested junk (1st gen A1000)
 
Most of the sales people I work with are very decent people outside of work but they will all chase the extra cash in it. When they get 22.5% of whatever they make the company it's not hard to see why.

Having said that, the most successful people here (easy 6 figure pay packet) only get that because they have regular customers who use them for all of their IT projects due to the fact they get such a high level of service. We did a survey recently and the results were staggeringly good so our sales people are certainly doing something right :)


I think this joke I got sent actually has quite a lot of truth in it and sums up to me why as much as sales people can be a pain, they are a necessary evil!

Sales vs. Finance

SALES: "You want answers?"
FINANCE: "I think we are entitled to them!"
SALES: "You want answers?!"
FINANCE: (YELLING): "I want the truth!"
SALES: (YELLING): "You can't handle the truth!!!"
SALES: (Continuing): Son, we live in a world that requires revenue. And that revenue must be brought in by people with elite skills. People who thrive on cold-calling, rejection and false promises. Who's going to find it? You? You, Mr. Operations? We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.
You scoff at sales divisions and you curse our lucrative incentives, commissions and bonus plans. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what we know: that while the cost of business results are excessive, it drives in the revenue.
And my very existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, drives REVENUE! You don't want to know the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at staff meetings......you want me on that sales call. You NEED me on that sales call.
We use words like discounts, licensing, business development and global purchase agreements. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent negotiating contracts. You use them as a punch line!
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to people who rise and sleep under the very blanket of revenue I provide and then question the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just say "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up the phone and make a sales call. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
FINANCE: "Did you expense the lap dance?"
SALES: "I did the job I was hired to do."
FINANCE: (YELLING): "Did you expense the lap dance?!"
SALES: (YELLING): "You're goddamn right I did!"
 
I have to "sell" my services/products to companies.
As such I am a salesman.
I have ethics however and get a lot of return business from customers because I don't mislead the them as to what they want/need.

In 10 years running two businesses I can count on one hand the number of clients we have lost and 3 of those came back a year later because the grass wasn't any greener.

So not all sales people are bull faeces.

Just the small minority that get talked about give the rest a bad name.
 
PsiFox said:
I have to "sell" my services/products to companies.
As such I am a salesman.
I have ethics however and get a lot of return business from customers because I don't mislead the them as to what they want/need.

In 10 years running two businesses I can count on one hand the number of clients we have lost and 3 of those came back a year later because the grass wasn't any greener.

So not all sales people are bull faeces.

Just the small minority that get talked about give the rest a bad name.
Click to expand...

I think thats a very good point, pretty much every well-paid job involves "selling" something. It might not be a physical product, perhaps a service or even selling yourself (not in that sense ;) ).

Nobody can buy something without someone to sell it to them and as PsiFox says, if you are a good "salesperson" then you are a valuable asset to your customers as you have knowledge they come to rely on.
 
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